maialino

gramercy, nyc

website

once again, derek and i simply walked out of our apartment and wandered around, waiting for inspiration to hit. as we neared gramercy park, i saw maialino, which i had been wanting to try since it first opened in fall 2009. i doubted that we could get a table, but wanted to see how long the wait was. to our surprise, we were seated immediately. score. the restaurant is absolutely beautiful. we sat in the bar area (they only make reservations in the dining room, so that's why we were seated so quickly). but this is no ordinary bar area. huge rustic-style tables for two, spaced far apart. the afternoon sun was streaming in through the huge windows behind the bar. just beautiful, i could have sat there for hours. eating.

it's a homey-but-upscale italian restaurant. (officially, a "roman-style trattoria," whatever that means). the best cup of latte i have ever had in a restaurant. it somehow strikes the ideal balance between strong, rich coffee and sweet, creamy lightness. the moist olive oil muffin - which was both fruity and savory - was a perfect companion to the latte. i highly recommend just stopping by, sitting at the bar, and enjoying a latte with the budino di olio d'oliva. heaven for about $6. pictured is the pasta, sausage, and other brunch dishes, which were also very good. but the muffin and coffee were just out of this world.

sea king

23rd (2/3)

website

i was craving noodle soup but too lazy to head downtown to kuai la mian in chinatown. i normally avoid restaurants that have too many things on their menu and the sea king has two menus - one for chinese food and another for sushi and japanese food.

the decor (dragons carved out of ivory) gave me a hint that this might really be a chinese restaurant, so i felt safe ordering the szechuan pork and pickled cabbage noodle soup. not anywhere close to as good as what my mom makes, but the noodles actually tasted similar to hand-pulled noodles and the pork was crispy and tasty. it was a decent bowl of noodles and managed to satisfy my craving, but i still prefer chinatown (and mom's, of course).

bocca

19th (park/bway)

website

i think we might have found a new place for sunday night supper. i haven't blogged in a while because we haven't been trying new places. but derek managed to find a fantastic italian restaurant just a few blocks away from our apartment. not a lot of people go out to dinner on sunday nights, but derek and i like to have a nice dinner out because we know that the week will probably be busy with work.

fortunately, on sundays, bocca offers half-off their excellent bottles of wine. to accompany our bottle of wine, derek ordered the veal meatballs and the spaghetti with smoked tomatoes. he absolutely loved it. the meatballs tasted like they were made by someone's grandma. i had the black linguine with lobster and smoked bacon in a corn crema sauce. delicious. the entrees are pricey, so i think we're going to limit our visits to the half-price wine sundays. but derek and i have a hard time finishing a whole bottle, so who's coming with us next time?

chinese mirch

28th/lex

website

neal is a new new yorker, but he's already got excellent restaurant recs. we met up for dinner at chinese mirch, which serves indian chinese food. neal being indian, me being chinese - we were very intrigued by the combination. the restaurant doesn't have a whole lot of tables, but it has a nice waiting area and decent soju cocktails to keep you occupied while you wait. the restaurant is also dimly lit, so apologies for the fuzzy photo.

the photo, however, is of the best cauliflower dish i have ever had in my life. amazing. its only served as an appetizer at chinese mirch - it's called "gobi manchurian." the cauliflower is lightly fried so that it's crispy and then tossed with a slightly spicy mix of garlic, onion, ginger, and cilantro. spicy, garlickly, delicious. in general, i'm still a little confused by the indian chinese food concept, but the gobi manchurian appears to be a mix between indian spiced cauliflower dishes and chinese traditional "salt & pepper" preparation of fried foods. delicious! next time, i'll probably order 3 plates of the gobi manchurian instead of entrees.

defonte's

3rd ave & 21st

website

i think this might be my new favorite sandwich. it's definitely a close race between defonte's hot roast beef sandwich and num pang's pulled pork sandwich. i discovered defonte's through the "a sandwich a day" feature on the nyc seriouseats blog. the original defonte's is in brookyln, but thankfully there's a manhattan outpost that delivers to my apartment.

the hot roast beef sandwich is so much more than what the name implies. at defonte's, the sandwich is served with crusty french bread, soaked in au jus, piled high with thinly sliced juicy roast beef, house-made mozzarella, and get this - a slice of fried eggplant. ridiculous. it gets a little cold in the delivery process, but wrap in foil and toast it in the toaster oven for a minute and the bread gets crispy on top and the mozzarella and meat warm through perfectly. yum.

big daddy's

park (19/20)

website

i can't believe i haven't blogged this place yet. derek and i come here a lot. in fact, last saturday, we went to big daddy's twice. first for lunch around 1 pm, then for a late night snack at 2 am with jenny after a night out on the town. it's a strange restaurant - a mix between a diner and an 80s theme restaurant. the food is standard diner food but better quality (although not gourmet gastropub quality).

i usually get the same thing - the healthy scramble (tofu, egg whites, spinach, green onions, tomato with tamari sauce) with a side of tater tots. derek usually gets one of their burgers - this time he got the daddy-o burger (topped with pepper jack, bacon, and onion rings). great food, good prices - my only complaint is that sometimes it can take a while for the food to come out. for our 2 am visit, jenny and i shared a buffet of fried food: tater tots, fried zucchini, and piggies in a blanket. a perfect way to end the night.

yama

new york, ny

link to yelp

i think i might i have found my new local sushi place (replacing haru). neal was in town and craving sushi, so i did some yelp searching. found this lovely little spot hidden away in the basement of what was once washington irving's home near irving place.

there was a bit of a wait, but i can understand why - this place has monster sushi. giant rolls. huge slabs of fish over tiny pieces of rice. neal and i shared 6 sushi pieces and 3 rolls - it was more than enough. really fresh fish, friendly service - i'm really glad that i found this place!

sushi samba

new york, ny

website

it took a while before derek and i decided to try this restaurant. between the asian fusion menu, trendy-looking exterior, club-like interior, it didn't really look like our scene. (although it was featured on an episode of satc - "and you can forget samba!" yells samantha as she storms off). turns out, however, that the food is very good. it's a mix between brazilian, peruvian, and japanese cuisines. i know, it sounds weird and it is weird, but the dishes turn out pretty tasty.

pictured is our favorite dish - the seared otoro kobe beef, served mostly raw with warm japanese mushrooms, ponzu gelée, and truffled tofu crema. it's only about 5 bites of food, for $3 a bite. but each bite is luxurious, meaty, and delicious. we usually order a couple of other things there, but we never end up full because it just costs too much and takes so long for each plate to come out. still, we keep going back for the seared beef. yum.

almond

new york, ny

website

despite the fact that it is just a stone's throw away from our apt building, derek and i had only eaten at almond once before i started this blog. it was over-priced and just okay. given that this particular restaurant location was notorious for failed restaurants (See rocco dispirito's union pacific), we didn't bother trying it again. but a bar is a bar, so when michelle asked us to meet up with her for drinks at almond, we happily joined her. the house cocktails are a little too sweet for my tastes, but the bartenders are friendly and attentive. michelle agreed that almond's dinner menu is sub-par, but she suggested that we try their brunch.

i'm glad we gave this place another chance. derek absolutely loved the "almond hash" - duck confit, roasted onions, potatoes, duck cracklins, and poached egg. delicious, with juicy and crispy duck and served with crusty grilled bread that's been brushed with butter. still, almond has its misses - the coffee is terrible and my ricotta pancakes were just okay. but if you stick with the hash and iced tea, then this is an excellent brunch spot. great for kids too - the restaurant even has baby food on the menu! it's $3 so you probably want to bring your own anyway, but it's a nice touch.

eleven madison park

new york, ny

website

dinner at eleven madison park is not a meal, it's an experience. i'm not sure my humble writing skills can do this place justice, so i invite you to read frank bruni's take on this place. the restaurant is housed in a beautiful old bank building overlooking madison square park. the service is stellar - this is a place that takes the "customer is always right" motto to another level. and the food - between the hors d'oeuvres, amuse bouche, appetizer, entree, dessert, and all the extras in between - it is sensory overload. it is foodie heaven. i'm going to try to explain the experience, but i'll have to go over my two paragraph limit.

we start by requesting a bottle of champagne from the champagne cart (yes, there's a whole cart) - vouvray petillant brut 2002. after ordering from our menus, the waiter brings the first plate of extras - hors d'oeuvres. these include a beet-flavored marshmallow, celery gelee with truffle, a savory macaroon, something with goat cheese, and my favorite - sweetbreads stuffed in a crispy shell shaped like a carrot. after a while, the waiters bring another extra - mushroom soup with parmesan foam, served with a mini brioche. it's unreal - rich and creamy but light and frothy at the same time. just when you think they're done with the pre-appetizer appetizers, they bring a curious glass container, filled 2/3 with dry rice and topped with a small, black ball-shaped item. what could it be? why, it's a black truffle beignet! of course. upon opening the container, the scent of truffles pretty much smacks you in the head. the beignet itself is doughy and earthy. quite surprising.

now we get to the food that we actually ordered. my appetizer was unbelievable - a farm egg, slow-cooked so that the white and yolk are both the same soft foamy consistency, served with a wine sauce, winter mushrooms, and extremely tender frog legs. again, the flavors and textures are incredibly rich, yet delicate. derek ordered the shrimp wrapped in avocado. for our entree, we shared the bluefoot chicken. the entire chicken was sliced in front of us - the breast meat was served with a truffle sauce with tiny potatoes and leeks. the dark meat was taken back to the kitchen where it was turned into a creamy dish with chanterelles. i didn't like the breast meat (but i rarely do), but the dark meat was delicious. at this point, i was full beyond full and i might have looked at the waiter skeptically when he brought our desserts - a vanilla souffle with passionfruit sauce and the chocolate peanut butter palette. both were quite good. and we're not done yet - next, the waiter presented a large plate full of adorable mini macaroons for us to choose from. i took one out of politeness and simply stared at it. derek really enjoyed his peanut butter and jelly macaroon.

finally, as a parting gift, we each received a lovely little box of housemade jelly candies in grapefruit, lemon, lime, and tangerine. the next day, or maybe a week later, taking a bite of one of the candies and tasting the fresh fruit and delicate texture, is the perfect way to reminisce about the eleven madison park experience.

haru

new york, ny

website

everyone needs a local sushi place. in new york, it should be within walking distance, preferably just a few blocks. there should always be a seat available. and the sushi should be reasonably priced (for sushi). although you can't expect the sushi to be flown in daily from the tsukiji market in tokyo, the sushi should always be fresh and tasty.

despite the fact that derek and i have lived in the gramercy/flatiron area for over a year, i have yet to find the perfect local sushi place. instead, i've settled for haru. it tends to be a bit too trendy for me with loud music, an unnecessary waterfall, and expensive rolls. but it does have very good cocktails and unique rolls. my new favorite roll is the double toro roll - yellowtail toro, salmon toro, asparagus, carrot and cucumber. sounds strange to be sure, but it turned out to be a perfect combination of fresh fish and crunchy veggies.

6/19/2010: reposted with photo of giant platter of sushi

barbounia

new york, ny

website

my favorite thing about barbounia is that it's only a short walk away from my apartment. my least favorite thing about barbounia is the fact that derek doesn't like eating there. fortunately jenny was willing to try it - especially when i told her that their mushroom gnocchi is amazing. unfortunately i forgot to take a picture until i was almost done eating, but see the picture for the last few bites of my gnocchi.

the restaurant serves mediterranean cuisine with a pretty good wine list and a very extensive bar menu. every table also gets warm seasoned flatbread with olive oil that is delicious. both jenny and i ordered off the prix fixe menu. i started with the red snapper ceviche (very good) and jenny had the crispy calamari (also very good, although quite filling). the gnocchi is perfectly light and fluffy with a creamy mushroom sauce. yum.

resto

new york, ny

website

i love the rustic interior of this restaurant. it feels like we're sitting in a pacific northwest lodge and that if we looked out the window, we'd see an evergreen forest instead of apartment buildings. makes me a little homesick. i've been here a few times for dinner, which was amazing - pork toast with caviar, anyone? the theme is belgian, but the real focus is fresh quality ingredients from local farms (um, as local as you can get to manhattan). derek and i have been searching for a great brunch spot in our neighborhood and i think this might be it.

everything on the menu looked so good that it took me about 10-15 minutes to decide what to order. eventually, derek had to pull the menu away from me. i had the eggs benedict - two eggs over two belgian waffles stuffed with ham, served with a side salad and home fries. the waffles had a hint of sweetness so i decided to treat those as dessert and eat the eggs with the crispy onion-y home fries. the fries were a little salty, but matched well with the eggs. the waffles went very well with the excellent bowl-sized "cup" of coffee. (i think they ship their coffee in from portland!) derek had the chicken and waffles (pictured), which were pretty darn good. one of the menu items that caught my eye was the "belgian hangover pasta" with vermont ham, gruyere, sunny egg, and black pepper. i may have to drink myself into a hangover just so i can order that the next day.

'inoteca

new york, ny

website

'inoteca was one of the first small-plates restaurants that i found in the city. the LES original is better than the gramercy version, but tends to be more crowded and lacks the "liquori" drink selection. when we first started going to 'inoteca, the entire menu was in italian and we had to have the waiter explain every single item. the waitstaff was always friendly and helpful, but its an unwieldy system. now they have a translation guide, but it only translates certain terms. oh well. by now, i've been here enough times for me to know what to order.

and that would be - the truffle egg toast with asparagus (pictured). it has declined in quality lately, but it's still good. derek likes the spicy spaghetti with pomodoro. my favorite drink is the luce del sole - grapefruit vodka, aperol, honey, freshly squeezed lemon & orange juices. it's served with these absurdly large ice cubes which i love and which keep the drink icy cold. so good. 'inoteca is reliable and close, but i think alta, sorella, and casellula are better choices for small-plates restaurants.

wildwood barbeque

new york, ny

website

this is a huge restaurant on park avenue south. the interior is so big and over-the-top that it seems to come straight out of frontierland from disneyworld. but the ribs are so good that i don't mind. derek and i have tried a lot of bbq places and wildwood's kansas city baby back ribs are our favorite ribs. i'm honestly not sure how authentic the ribs are, having never been to kansas city, but i know what i like. the ribs are covered in "spicy chipotle bbq" sauce which is just spicy enough to be tasty.

we usually order a whole rack and a few sides. i like their tater tots (again, i'm skeptical about authenticity here) and derek likes their fries. but it's really all about the ribs. the picture is a few ribs short of a full rack as i had to first hoard some on my plate. derek is a rib-eating machine and many times he has finished the entire order while i'm still gnawing on my second rib.

irving mill

new york, ny

CLOSED

derek and i really like this place. inside, the rustic cabin feel and friendly service (and beer selection!) remind us of the pacific northwest. i'm disappointed that they took the pork toast off the menu - deep fried "toast" made out of pork covered with egg-salad and caviar - so i hope that comes back soon. derek was very impressed with the burger and fries. he said that it tastes almost as good as shake shack's, but has a bigger portion of meat and better gooey cheese.

another reason it doesn't feel like nyc - the space is cavernous and the tables are spread out so there's room to breathe (thus the first-ever stroller-friendly tag). note: there's no t-mobile blackberry service in the back of the restaurant, so it's also a good spot to hide from the powers-that-be.

initially posted 8/1/2009 -- reposted with better photo.

les halles

new york, ny

website

9:30 pm on a sunday night is a difficult time to find a restaurant. fortunately, les halles on park is open until midnight. it's famous for being where anthony bourdain used to cook. solid french bistro fare, although a little pricey. there were two french tourists at the table right next to us. when i received my mussels (pictured), my neighbor leaned over and explained that the proper way to eat mussels in france is to use the empty shells as pinchers to scoop out the rest of the mussels. it was actually quite handy because then you don't stab out the meatiness of the mussels. and those were some meaty mussels. i prefer my mussels smaller and more delicate, but the broth was excellent. derek enjoyed his poulet roti frites (chicken and fries). he had wisely copied what the two french women had ordered.

one of the women told us all about the original les halles in paris which is no longer in paris but is now outside of paris. i think it was some kind of market. i tried my best to understand but we all know i'm not good with accents. halfway through our meal, the ladies left and asked derek to calculate how much tip they owed. once they were gone, i finally put some ketchup on my "frites." i had waited because i didn't want to offend the friendly french women with my crass american ways...

shake shack

new york, ny

website

my favorite thing about rainstorms in new york city is that after the rain subsides, derek will run out to the shake shack and bring back burgers for us to eat in our apartment. i get the shack burger (no cheese) and fries - and if i'm feeling decadent - a concrete as well. a concrete is like a blizzard, but with frozen custard. yes, custard.

in nyc you can find every possible iteration of burger (i love this city), but this is hands-down no-contest by-a-long-shot my favorite burger. it's the combination of a soft chewy potato bun, flavorful juicy beef, juicy fresh tomato, crisp fresh lettuce, and light "Shack sauce." all for $5. sure, some people like thinner or thicker patties, brioche buns, charred meat, different toppings, different cheeses, etc. but for me, the shack burger is burger perfection.

and because it's the shake shack, i'm even writing more than two paragraphs. a short note about the line. from the first lamppost, it takes about 16 mins to get to the order window and about another 12 mins to get your food. yes, i've timed it. if the line is longer than that - and it usually is - it can take up to an hour or two to get your food. after a rainstorm? no line and 5 min wait for your food. sweet.

'wichcraft

new york, ny

website

'wichcraft is a great sandwich shop - not a lot of variety, but quality ingredients. my go-to sandwich is the mozzarella & fontina melt with olive tapenade (pictured with potato salad). best grilled cheese ever. derek likes the turkey club sandwich and their soups. we also tried the apple turnover - which honestly tasted like a fanchy version of mickey d's apple pie ...

they have locations throughout the city, usually near parks. we took our sandwiches to madison square park and ate them on a bench next to the playground. perfect nyc meal.

primehouse

new york, ny

website

after reading about primehouse's burger from this article, derek and i decided to try this steakhouse just up the street last night. nice outdoor seating although it's right on park, so there's a lot of foot and car traffic. good for people-watching. i ordered the steakhouse burger (off their bar menu) - which as you can see, was quite the burger - topped with mushrooms, caramelized onions, and steak sauce. good, messy, but i liked derek's rib-eye better!

one of derek's restaurant pet peeves is when they put "fries" on the menu and end up serving potato wedges instead. as you can see, these "fries" were definitely on the wedge-end of the spectrum...